Goa minister told to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to legal aid fund

Panaji, Aug 10 (IANS) The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday directed Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane to deposit Rs 1.5 lakh towards the state legal aid fund, while disposing a 10-year-old case in which the minister was accused.

A spokesperson for the High Court bench told reporters that Rane paid the money by demand draft.

The order by Justices C.V. Bhadang and Prithviraj Chavan comes a few weeks after a city lawyer-activist Aires Rodrigues, who in 2007 had complained that Rane had threatened him with death, told the court that he had no objection to a petition moved by Rane seeking closure of the case.

“The petitioner is permitted to deposit Rs 1.5 lakh with the State Legal Aid Fund,” the one-line order reads.

Vishwajit, son of former Goa Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane, is currently a Health Minister in the BJP-led coalition government. He is contesting a by-election from the Valpoi assembly constituency later this month.